Originally from Portsmouth, Ohio, Rick moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music, and it didn't take long before he was drawing attention from all the major record labels in town. He soon signed a deal with Steven Spielberg’s company “Dreamworks “ TM and began recording an album with legendary record producer James Stroud. As a songwriter Rick has been equally successful in his endeavors. Superstar Tim McGraw struck gold when he chose to record Rick’s song titled “Something Like That” (aka The BBQ Stain Song) and took it to #1 on the Billboard chart for a record breaking 5 weeks in a row. The song continues to be a main stay on radio stations world wide. In fact, at the end of 2009 "Something Like That" would emerge as the most played song of the decade in any genre of music, making it the first country song to ever achieve that honor. Martina McBride also topped the charts with Rick’s power ballad “Where Would You Be.” Because of his versatility, Rick has had his songs recorded by a wide range of artists…from classic country artist like Earl Thomas Conley and Eddie Raven to contemporary artist such as Montgomery Gentry, Julianne Hough and Jason Michael Carroll. When asked about his inspiration Rick replies, “Most of my influences have been singer/songwriters and I feel my identity as a singer and performer has always been best defined through my songwriting".